Most Discussed

Tag - Apple Retail

On the 15th anniversary of the opening of the first two Apple retail stores, the company's SVP of Retail, Dame Angela Ahrendts, led journalists on a public preview of the forthcoming new Union Square flagship store in San Francisco, California. The new store, which has been under construction for two years, features 42-foot-tall glass doors that slide open that are unique to this story, the latest next-generation store layout and design from Sir Jonathan Ive and Ahrendts, and a back "green" wall that features a Wi-Fi plaza that is open 24 hours a day, and includes a historic fountain by artist Ruth Asawa.

In addition to the recently-reported opening of the 30th Apple retail store in the combined mainland China and Hong Kong regions, the company has now announced two more stores that will open this month. The Shenyang store previously reported on will open on Thursday, January 14 at 10AM local time, with the 31st being a second store for the city of Nanjing at the IST Mall in the Xuanwu District, which will debut on Saturday, January 16. A 32nd store will be the first to come to the city of Guangzhou at the Parc Central shopping area in the Tianhe District.

As reported earlier today, US Apple retail stores have now joined with Australian and UK stores to allow in-store pickup of reserved Apple Watch models. The US website now offers the option of reserving a pickup time alongside normal mail delivery when buyers choose an Apple Watch model from the site, giving customers the option of picking a specific time and nearby store if desired. In-store buyers also receive a custom bag with their purchase.

Four Apple retail workers at the Del Monte store in Monterey, California were hospitalized on Wednesday after a package intended for delivery to the store was contaminated at a FedEx depot with a high level of organic peroxide in what appears to be an accidental spill. The odor, rather than any direct contact, caused the workers to become ill, and forced the evacuation of the Apple Store and several nearby areas. A dozen people in total, mostly Apple workers, were nauseated by the chemical.

In a previously-unannounced move, Apple is creating a store dedicated to just selling the Apple Watch (and accessories) as part of an existing upscale department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The "store-within-a-store," borrowing from previous Apple retail concepts, could be come a permanent display for the fashionable Apple Watch if sales merit it. The department store, Isetan, is placing the mini-shop near its main entrance.

A new post from Apple Retail Senior Vice President (SVP) Dame Angela Ahrendts on her LinkedIn blog offers a simple holiday message and song with a theme of peace, saying her message for the season was simply "let peace begin with me." Ahrendts said she was inspired by a recent re-hearing of a song she used to play on piano, a rendition of "Let There Be Peace on Earth" by B.J. Thomas. The song, originally written by Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller in 1955, offers an inspirational message of unity.

A new report claims that a "significant number" of US Apple retail stores will begin offering carrier financing incentives from at least three of the four major carriers, beginning as soon as August 20.The financing plans, as previously reported, are offered by carrier offshoots such as Verizon's Edge or AT&T's Next, allow customers to include the cost of the iPhone itself spread out across a period of time, or what used to be called an "installment plan." The programs generally allow customers to upgrade phones more quickly than the full term of a contract.

Apple's retail stores will open early on Friday, Nov. 1 to serve customers eager to pick up the company's new iPad Air. Apple announced on its website on Thursday that Apple Stores will be opening at 8 a.m., an hour earlier than they typically open, in order to sell the new iPad. Apple has in the past opened its retail locations early for other product launches, including the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c.

In order to fight back against "scalpers" who book up and then sell prime Genius Bar appointment times in China and some big cities around the world, Apple is instituting a new policy that requires an individual Apple ID in order to book an appointment with an Apple Retail Store's technical staff. The move should help thwart the scalpers, and also encourage customers who don't already have an Apple ID to obtain one, and thus gain access to the company's other services -- from the iTunes Store to Apple's help forums.

The opening of a new Apple Store is always an event, and Apple fans in Adelaide, South Australia, were excited enough about the first Apple retail outlet in their state to line up hours in advance of the store's opening. A reader in the area supplied AppleInsider with pictures and video showing a sizable line of Apple fans patiently three hours ahead of the store's opening. Some had been there for 12 hours before that.

Now AAPL Stock: 114.19 ( + 2.07 )

Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj

Share

Developer162d

Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket

The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]

Share

162d

Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera

Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94

Share

Industry162d

Apple employees testing wheelchair features

New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa

Share

Troubleshooting163d

SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards

SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If

Share

Upgrades/storage163d

Apple's third-quarter results due July 26

Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm

Share

Investor164d

Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users

Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE